


Afraid of Heights

by Twyd



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Acrophobia, Chases, First Kiss, M/M, Rescue, Slash, Sunsets, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2016-06-19
Packaged: 2018-07-16 01:14:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7246267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twyd/pseuds/Twyd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shizuo has a fear of heights. At least, he did...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Afraid of Heights

Shizuo’s lost track of how long he’s been chasing Izaya. His heels burn, his shirt is wet under his arms, they’re somewhere out of town that he doesn't recognise, so he figures, pretty long, pretty far. He tears his shirt at some point along the way – the shirt his brother gave him, the second of them to suffer because of Izaya – and it makes him even madder, makes him keep chasing long after he normally would have given up.

He's chasing Izaya up and over scaffolding at some abandoned building site. In the back of his mind, Shizuo's vaguely aware that he hasn't seen the ground for some time, but he doesn't concern himself about it, can't take his eyes off Izaya.

It's not until Izaya bounds onto a wooden platform and out of sight that Shizuo wavers. He puts a hand out for balance, clenching the nearest steel bar. Without Izaya, there's nothing in front of him but metal scaffolding, the weak looking boards at the end of it, and the beginnings of sunset.

Then he looks down. This is a big mistake.

He’s supported by only a thread of steel no wider than his shoes. It’s a long way down. Long enough for the world to blur, enough to kill him. Bile rises in his throat.

“Shizuo?” Izaya calls, irritated, as he sometimes is when Shizuo pursues him for a particularly long time. “I’m over here. I haven’t got all day.”

Shizuo doesn’t move. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Izaya, on the wooden boards. He looks very far away.

“Oi.” Izaya snaps his fingers. “Look at me, protozoan.”

Shizuo can’t. He can't move.

Izaya laughs at him. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of heights?”

Shizuo’s never been this high before in his life. Afraid doesn't come close to what he is. He feels like he is already dying. His knuckles are bone white from holding on, and his insides are churning.

“Shiz-u-o,” the flea sings. “Just look behind you. We’ve been this high for the past twenty minutes, and you didn't fall. You were fine. Look.”

Shizuo doesn’t look. Is the flea insane? He can’t move his neck. He can’t move at all.

“Shizuo. Shizu-chan. Don’t look down. Look at me.” The flea waves his hands, claps them, snaps his fingers again, but Shizuo still doesn't move. His arm aches.

“I’m going to die." He hears himself, faint and barely there.

The wind must carry his voice, or Izaya must read his mind, for he snorts with contempt.

“No, you’re not. Do you think I have such boring plans for you?”

Shizuo says nothing.

“Listen,” Izaya tells him. “You’re literally steps away from safety. And the sun's going down. If you don’t move soon, you’ll be climbing down in the dark, and that’s a whole different ball game.”

Shizuo swears softly, but he still doesn’t move.

Something swings in the corner of his eye, and his head snaps up out of reflex.

Izaya is dangling upside down, swaying slightly, with his legs curled around one of the bars, arms dangling with his coat and hair. The sunset frames him, halo-ing his slim form. His shirt slips, revealing his perfect stomach. He grins at Shizuo upside down.

“Have I got your attention now?”

“You’re crazy.”

Izaya laughs at him.

“I’m serious, Shizu-chan,” he says, though he looks anything but. “I have an appointment in an hour. Get over yourself and move.”

“I’ll fall.”

“You won’t.”

Izaya lets himself drop with a graceful flip. The boards don't even wobble. Then he hops on the bar Shizuo’s balancing on, walks towards Shizuo with his arms out, singing to himself.

He stops just in front of Shizuo and holds a hand out, palm up.“Come on, protozoan.” He wiggles his fingers invitingly.

Shizuo’s legs steady, stiffening at the threat of Izaya’s proximity. “You’ll push me.”

“I won’t. You push me however and we’ll have problems.”

He doesn't take Izaya's hand.

Izaya sighs and drops it, almost staggers the last few steps to Shizuo. He puts his hands on the other man’s shoulders for balance, and kisses him as if by accident. Only he doesn’t stop. He steadies himself on Shizuo’s shoulders, pushes back until he is holding just Shizuo’s hand.

“Let go,” Izaya tells him, and Shizuo does, letting go of the bar to take Izaya’s other hand.

Izaya walks him backwards without looking, without wobbling, not taking his eyes off Shizuo's.

When his heel touches the wooden boards, he gives Shizuo a final sharp tug, and just like that Shizuo is by his side on the boards in a heap. He melts in relief.

Izaya laughs at him, sprawling back on his hands. “I can’t believe you’re afraid of heights,” he taunts. “Who knew.”

When his heart's calmed down enough, Shizuo sits up to look behind them. The sun is setting on the site, on the city behind it, bathing it all in red-gold. The sky burns with it.  It’s so beautiful, so deadly. On the relative safety of the boards, seeing how far they've actually come, it doesn’t feel so bad to look down.

“You were fine until you realised how high you were,” Izaya tells him lazily. “Sometimes it’s better to not realise.” He hops to his feet. He stretches languidly, the sunset stretching his shadow into something elegant and inhuman over Shizuo's legs.

“Come on, I’m going to be late. Unless you want to be found up here whimpering on your own.”

Shizuo wants to snarl a reply, but Izaya is already bounding off, and Shizuo takes off after him on still weak legs, not wanting to be alone again.

He follows Izaya down without freezing up once, and Izaya moves more leisurely now it's not a chase, and Shizuo can easily follow.

Shizuo doesn’t say anything until his feet are on solid ground once more, until Izaya’s eyes are vague, distant, already moving on to something else in his head; his appointment maybe, or what he's having for dinner. Like it is no big deal, like this is not the most bizarre and infuriating thing he has ever done.

“Why did you do that?”

For a moment, Izaya looks almost blank, like he’s already forgotten it. Then he frowns.

“Why not?” He shrugs. “You weren’t going to fall anyway. I was just speeding things up.”

Shizuo wants to point out that this makes no sense, that Izaya has to explain himself further, but the flea is gone before he can even compose it in his head.

He looks up at the dizzying heights they've come from, and decides it's maybe better left alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Afraid of Heights by Billy Talent - listen! And thanks for reading, please comment :D


End file.
